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space_aces ([personal profile] space_aces) wrote in [community profile] thegreatspacerace2022-09-28 07:29 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD
Your journey only happened because of your benefactor, so it begets that it starts at your benefactor as well. SUPERBIA, which is as much of a location as it is an entity, is where everyone's search for Fortuna begins.

There's not much of a welcome party: shortly after their fateful encounter with SUPERBIA, in which they swore to join the quest to find Fortuna, the new Privateers will find themselves afflicted by a sudden change in perspective. See, teleportation is a tricky process, so from SUPERBIA's point of view, why not make the target destination none other than itself? One highly disconcerting moment later, and the Privateers find themselves inside the belly of the beast.

The vast mega-structure is shockingly lonely, void of anyone other than the Privateers. Those who look off the metal satellite and to The Network for intelligence (or take a skim at the Space Wikipedia article) will find out that the surrounding space is clear for lightyears; rumors have it that the place is cursed. It won't take long to understand why.


1
Overclocked




The innards of SUPERBIA are that of an impossibly scaled up computer, and the Privateers start right in the middle of it. You are the spider living in the dusty PS4. Literal rivers of coolant, transistors the size of mountains, landscapes made entirely of circuitry. The sky, bounded by a distant metal ceiling, is constantly alight with coursing electricity that cracks the sky with lightning storms. It can be assumed that the Privateers are the first living things to set foot here, because such a place is not ever meant to be traversed by delicate, organic, mortals that worry about things such as "temperature" or "voltage". SUPERBIA needs not lifeforms to continue its operations; why design for them? Traversal itself is difficult: unscalable walls and perilous drops are common to encounter. The only company the Privateers will find are oddly adorable maintenance robots, which sadly seem too occupied by their directives of maintaining the massive machine to offer any assistance (or even acknowledgement of their new guests).

It is immediately clear that the most urgent priority is to get the hell out of here. Before your adventure ends at the starting line.


2
Skeletons In The Closet

If one stays inside SUPERBIA, either by getting horribly lost or losing all common sense, one will notice a peculiar pattern emerge as one gets deeper into the bowels of the mega-structure. Passages shrink and become more level, and the incredible hostility and danger of the surroundings fade away, until one comes across areas which were definitely intended for humanoid organisms to use at one point.

The construction of these areas is cramped, unfurnished, and dreary; they are reminiscent of artificial environments meant to handle harsh external conditions like a submarine or bunker, but they are entirely livable. One can eventually find distinct rooms, but everything in them has crumbled to dust and their original purpose is nigh impossible to discern. Deeper investigation may reveal the few items that have stood the test of time. While it is more plausible for life to have existed here, that doesn't seem to be the case now. What happened here?

3
The Shipyard

In the opposite direction, when one finally reaches the outer edges of SUPERBIA, they will be rewarded with the place to pick up a spaceship and a stunningly beautiful view of outer space. The outside of SUPERBIA has no atmosphere to get between you and the stars, and they shine brightly, like a beacon calling one out into the first steps of adventure.

The shipyard is already filled with countless space ships of every size, form, and function, all autonomously constructed by SUPERBIA's factories over the countless years. What's the harm in taking one or twenty out for a spin? Even if one has no intentions of permanent ownership of the vehicle, it's not like SUPERBIA will miss it. For a Privateer with a more specific vision, however, there are kiosks around the yard which will allow one to design their very own space ship down to their exact specifications. When the process is done SUPERBIA's matter printers will have it out and space-ready right before your very eyes.

If a Privateer has a ship, vehicle, or large item that they intended to bring with them, they will also find them here, neatly parked in the Shipyard. Why didn't SUPERBIA extend this courtesy to the pilot's themselves? The answer is revealed as soon as the owner makes a closer inspection: the inner contents have been rearranged, like a whirlwind was unleashed inside and assorted loose items thrown around. Now aren't you glad your transportation was given special attention, and the same didn't happen to your innards?

4
Hot Crewmates in Your Area

But how will a single Privateer man an entire space ship? No worries: when one steps into a ship, the strangely endearing maintenance robots will suddenly take acute interest. The robots will follow inside and immediately start assuming the duties of a spacefarer, eliminating the need for extra hands on deck.

Even still, there's just no eliminating the want for a human touch, though. Thankfully even that dilemma has a contingency plotted by SUPERBIA.

Communication devices are easily available on every space ship. They come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from huge stationary consoles to portable smartphone-like screens. But whenever a Privateer attempts to access the Network, a pop-up will appear, obscuring the whole screen.


The device will be rendered unusable until one relents to the pop-up's demands and provides answers to its questions. What will these be used for? The mystery will be solved when a social media app mysteriously installs itself on the same device, with profiles preemptively made for every Privateer. Each Privateer's profile consists of their given answers, paired with embarrassingly candid photographs. SUPERBIA has eyes in many places it seems.
miraclekiller: (Default)

[personal profile] miraclekiller 2022-10-16 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
With enough time and energy, whatever I want. My goal is to understand what makes up everything in the world, or perhaps now it is the universe? I'm not going to do anything as limiting as claim a specialty.

Well then, if power is such a quagmire, what do you intend to do with the greatest treasure in the universe?
sleepfan: (Forward light)

[personal profile] sleepfan 2022-10-16 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
So the limits on your alchemy are based on your lifespan and ability to store energy? What about complex objects? Could you turn a tree into a datapad?

[That is the name for the small information boxes. Linhardt had double-checked.]

Win a war so I can renounce my position and learn about the universe. Or stop time so I can nap. I am very tired.
miraclekiller: (hmm)

[personal profile] miraclekiller 2022-10-18 12:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps if you plugged me into whatever powers this space station. Changing one element into another is a massive undertaking. On the other hand, if you needed a notebook that writes itself, that would be relatively simple.

[ Synthesizing enough gold to make the wires alone would probably kill Carol if she did it without help. ]

I would recommend the former. Learning about the universe is a worthy cause.
sleepfan: (Hand on Chin)

[personal profile] sleepfan 2022-10-18 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Could you make a notebook that would take verbal instructions?

[It would be nice not to stop what he's working on to make notes about it. Eventually he'll discover speech-to-text transcription, but he hasn't yet, and Linhardt isn't sure he trusts the computers to store things accurately. How can he trust something whose inner workings he does not yet understand.]

I think that amount of lightning would kill you, so I recommend not plugging yourself into the space station.

[Linhardt pauses. He does want to see what would happen...]

If you do, however, let me know so I can help.

[And lurk and watch. And take notes.]

I'm glad someone sees that. Though the prospect of napping whenever I want is also enticing...

[Now he's just being ornery. Linhardt wouldn't actually waste Fortuna on napping. Probably. Maybe.]
miraclekiller: (smuggest alchemist)

[personal profile] miraclekiller 2022-10-18 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
It wouldn't be the most complex thing I've made. Especially if I'm not limited to a single tree for material. It's certainly preferable to writing everything by hand.

[ On Carol's part she had already moved on to just using a computer to do text to speech, but that sort of notebook was extremely useful no less than fifty years ago. She's definitely used it herself. ]

I'm not going to grab a live wire. I would have to build some kind of adaptor first. And for that, more research will need to be done. Considering it seems unlikely that Fortuna will be able to supply me directly with energy to wield my alchemy, it is something I would have to do anyway.

[ She's just... going to ignore the napping thing. He's not serious. Probably. Maybe. ]
sleepfan: (Default)

[personal profile] sleepfan 2022-10-18 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
May I have one if you make one?

[Linhardt is working with roughly 15th to 17th century technological knowledge. He's doing his best.]

Why do you consider it unlikely that Fortuna would endow you with such abilities?

And what do you need to research to create such an adaptor? I would like to see such a thing.


[Unfortunately for Carol, Linhardt has determined that she knows more than him about a topic of interest to him, which means it is time to pester her with questions.]